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Prelude to a Riot

© Christina Coruth

Think “taxation without representation” and a vision of men dumping tea into Boston Harbor probably springs to mind. While the Boston Tea Party is the most well known act of rebellion against taxes imposed by the Crown, it was not the only uprising and tea was not the only object of taxation that caused colonists to rise up. A year prior to the Boston Tea Party, a group of men in New Hampshire also sent a clear message to the Crown, but the object of their vexation was not a tax on tea, it was ownership of a tree.

White Pine – the object of vexation

Unlike the other colonies settled by people seeking religious freedom, the driving force of settlers in New Hampshire was business. Early settlers didn’t find much arable land. However, abundant forests and rivers provided the natural resources needed for creation of a thriving lumber industry, which supplied a variety of timber suited for homebuilding, cabinet making, and shipbuilding. Portsmouth would become world renown as a shipbuilding capital and trading center.

Included in New Hampshire’s plentiful supply and variety of trees, was one that stood out among the rest, the Eastern White Pine – pinus strobus. These giants, found throughout the Northeast, averaged 150 ft to 200 ft tall, measured 36 to 75 inches in diameter at the base, and were devoid of branches between the base and the crown. Native Americans made dugouts, up to fifty feet in length with a 40 to 50 people seating capacity, from these white pines.

Straight and strong, the white pine made the perfect mast for a ship. This type of mast, made from one tree was called a single stick mast and was much in demand. White pines not suitable for use as masts due to size or deformity were used in building other parts of the ships. Lumberjacking, sawmills, and specially built “mast ships” to transport the masts to the final destination were the supporting ventures necessary to the white pine mast industry. Soon business was booming.

Who owns the white pines?

Britain’s forests had been depleted of trees suitable for use as masts. The alternative was to combine two or more smaller trees, which made for an inferior mast. Early on, under William and Mary, England claimed ownership of all the white pines more than 24 inches in diameter in the American Colonies. In 1722, King George I and the British Parliament strengthened the laws regarding ownership of the white pines to include all trees measuring more than 12 inches in diameter. The new standard, in effect, made all the white pines off limits to the colonists.